World War II POW Keeps Alive the Memories of His Brave Division

Bob and Phyllis “Phyl” Meyer, Belfair residents for 56 years, are keeping the World War II memories alive in their own ways — Phyl with her book, “Shadow of Death,” Bob with his restored Navy Jeep.

Bob Meyer's medals.

Bob Meyer added a “wire cutter” bar when he restored the Jeep to original configuration. He also owns a restored ’21 Model-T Ford.

Bob Meyer wanted to own a Jeep since he was a teenager. A foot soldier in World War II, he recalls envying "anyone who got to ride in a Jeep." When he returned to Europe in the ‘80s and saw a military Jeep, he thought he saw a ghost.

Turns out, there were entire groups of enthusiasts who restored military vehicles — and not just in Europe. Meyer was determined to get his Jeep.

He found one years later, advertised for sale in a paper, a 1945 Navy Jeep once used on USS Oriskany. He tore it off and stripped all the civilian alterations, and started a quest for original and reproduction parts from as far as the Philippines and Australia. After 16 months of work, the retired mechanical engineer got his dream.

The Jeep carries the markings 28-109-I, Meyer's 28th infantry division 109th regiment, as well as his old Army serial number on the hood. "Roll On 28th" — the division's battle cry — is also written on the hood.

"It's my way of keeping the memory and spirit of 28th Division alive," Meyer says.

Keeping those memories alive wasn't always Meyer's desire. For many years, he wouldn't talk about his experience even to his family. A POW captured during the Battle of the Bulge, Meyer came home from the war with nightmares. Phyllis "Phyll" Meyer, his wife of 62 years, recorded the bits and pieces she could extract from him through the years. "When he had nightmares, he wouldn't talk about it so I started keeping notes," she says. Those notes eventually resulted in a book she self-published for her family titled "Shadow of Death."

Living a Nightmare

Meyer was drafted into the Army in May 1943 when he turned 18. He wanted to fly but pilots were no longer in high demand. After basic training and an engineering course, Meyer was sent overseas with his division as "replacements" to rebuild the troops after heavy casualties. They ended up in Luxembourg, supposed to be a "quiet zone." Instead, they battled in a major offensive launched by the Germans on Dec. 16, 1944.

Meyer was captured on the third day of what was called the Battle of the Bulge, one of several thousand soldiers taken prisoner over the course of the offensive. The battle lasted more than a month and is considered the bloodiest in the history of the U.S. military. The United States suffered more than 80,000 casualties including more than 13,000 dead (as many as 19,000 by some accounts).

One of the scenes he bitterly remembered was watching a German trying to drive a captured Jeep. The POWs were marched through bitter cold, mostly at night, with no food or water. At Bitburg, they were bombed by American forces. Meyer is still not sure how he survived that attack.

They were marched for 25 miles, and as they went along, the group got bigger, more prisoners added. It was one of the coldest winters Europe had in about 40 years, and Meyer had no heavy jacket until he found a heavy GI liner and someone gave him an old stolen blanket to use as a muffler. Not knowing what was happening or what would happen was the worst.

Eventually, Meyer ended up in a prison camp for six weeks and taken to slave labor camps for two months. When the Russian Army came through and liberated them, they followed them for four days on bikes and horses to reunite with the U.S. Army. Drained of emotion, the POWs showed little elation when the American troops celebrated the surrender of the Germans — for the prisoners, the relief had already come.

POWs were not exactly heroes in those days. Meyer says they thought they would actually be court-martialed for being captured, even though they were following orders. It took wars in Vietnam and Korea for the government to create a POW medal and to acknowledge POWs had war-related issues that had to be addressed.

Meyer later went through ROTC and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve, retiring at age 60 as a major. He worked at the Navy shipyard in Bremerton for 30 years designing weapons handling equipment.

The healing started when he and Phyl went back to Europe, 40 years after the Bulge. Old foxholes where he was captured were still there — as were hand grenades. "We were so amazed how much appreciation people had for what we did," he says. "It was the best therapy, it gave me good memories to shut out the bad memories. As it gets further and further back, it's easier (to remember)."

Meyer returned to Europe several times, and even became friends with a couple of German soldiers who were enemies six decades earlier. Had they met in 1944, they would have killed each other. Now, among his memorabilia, is a mug from one of them, inscribed, "for my formerly opponent Bob and today friend."

As reliving the memories of the war became easier, Meyer has told his story to schools and other groups. A member of the West Sound Military Vehicle Preservation Club, he takes his restored Jeep to the Armed Forces Day parades and other events, sharing the story with anyone interested.

In a way, the childhood dream of this ownership has brought him full circle. The Jeep is "a living monument," he says.